Canadian HR Reporter

PM40065782 RO9496 November 3, 2014 fears continue over ebola A health worker checks the temperature of a woman entering Mali from Guinea at the border in Kouremale in October. Ebola concerns are prompting changes in some workplaces — Air Canada flight attendants got the green light to wear gloves and Alberta nurses have raised concerns about proper training and prep. See page 23 for more information about key legal issues related to preparing for a pandemic. INSIDE FUNCTION, NOT FASHION The hippest fashion accessory is battery powered – how wearable technology is impacting the workplace Pricey problem The surprisingly high cost of forgotten passwords page 4 You're cut off New bar owner tried to turf pregnant employee page 5 Magic number The perfect salary for employee satisfaction is… page 6 page 15 Canada tops in attracting talent But we can't be complacent about position, say experts By Liz Bernier Is Canada a competitive play- er on the global stage? When it comes to attracting talent, the an- swer seems to be a resounding yes. Canada is among the top three destinations for international jobseekers, according to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) global survey of more than 203,000 re- spondents in 70 countries. Canada ranked third behind the United States and the United Kingdom, found Decoding Global Talent. And three Canadian cities ranked among the top 25: Toronto (eight), Montreal (21) and Van- couver (23). at Canada received such a high ranking isn't really surpris- ing, said Carsten von der Linden, principal at Boston Consulting Group in Munich and co-author of the survey. "Canada has quite an appeal internationally," he said. "From my perspective, Canada's been a dream destination for many peo- ple as long as I can (remember)." Two major objectives cited by survey respondents included broadening personal experience and acquiring professional expe- rience, said von der Linden. And Canada is perceived to provide strong opportunities for both. "It's a very livable country and one where you can bring all of your talent but also develop on a personal side," he said. "Canada early on set the groundwork for an inflow of talented employees around the world (with) the ad- vantages being to develop in a work sense, but also finding a per- sonal situation — building a future for oneself and one's family." A study by the Canadian Employee Relocation Council When workers feel watched By Liz Bernier TransparenCy Is ofTen lauded as an organizational vir- tue, boasting benefits such as enhanced productivity, problem- solving and collaboration. But when does a transparent workplace cross the line into intru- siveness? And how can transpar- ency be balanced with employees' needs for privacy and control? It's a paradox, according to Ethan Bernstein, assistant profes- sor of leadership and organiza- tional behaviour at the Harvard Business School in Boston. "For all that transparency does to drive out wasteful practices and promote collaboration and shared learning, too much of it can trigger distortions of fact and counterpro- ductive inhibitions," he wrote in Hrpa launching 3-level Hr designation Move is a game-changer, says CEO of Ontario association – but what happens to CHRP? By Sarah DoBSon onTarIo's Hr association is launching a new framework that will create three new professional designations. e names of the designations — a junior one, mid-level one and senior one — weren't available at press time but the change could mean the end of the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) in the province. Professionals who currently hold the CHRP will be grandfa- thered into the mid-level desig- nation — even if the CHRP name changes — and continuing pro- fessional development will still be required, according to Claude Balthazard, vice-president of regu- latory affairs and privacy officer at HRPA in Toronto. If the names changes, "the CHRP would become an obsolete designation — anyone who has a designation today will be able to keep it for life," he said. e initiative is meant to re- flect and promote the evolution of the profession — and it's a game- changer, said Bill Greenhalgh, CEO of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA). "It's up-to-date, it's competen- cy-based, it deals with a lot of the things that organizations want in terms of understanding strategy, understanding business — and we're validating it on that basis," he said. "It's better than anything else that's available in the world of HR, and organizations are now moving to try and get to that point — and we've actually got there. In addition to that, it's equivalent or in fact ahead of some of the desig- nation structures that some of the other associations have." In the past, certification has been basically about what you want people to know, he said. "As the world has evolved, the competency models now are not just what do you want them to know but what do you want them to be able to do," he said. "It's one thing for people to know informa- tion but it's the application that re- ally adds the value." e HR practice ranges from en- try level all the way up to CHROs and what those people do varies so considerably that a single des- ignation simply could not cover the bases — it's a wide spectrum, said Greenhalgh. CHRP challenges Employers want HR professionals at all levels to better understand the business and provide more strategic input, which is not re- flected well in the present CHRP, he said. "When you look back at the CHRP, it's a fantastic designation — it's been around since the mid- dle '90s. But the content, the edu- cational content in it, dates from back then," he said. "ere have been a couple of attempts in the meantime to upgrade it slightly but there haven't been many changes, it's been more fine-tuning." And there have been questions about the CHRP's ability to serve the profession well in the future, said Greenhalgh. "You look at what's happened in the workplace, changes in demo- graphics, changes in the economy. You look at Ontario, loss of manu- facturing, the growth of service in- dustries; the change in work pro- cesses and arrangements — people tend to be working more part-time or as consultants or whatever; people retiring… legislation in the workplace like harassment and bullying, diversity — all that stuff has all happened in the last 10 years, 15 years and… very little is reflected in that educational content." Transparency > pg. 10 world's > pg. 8 Corporate Outplacement Services CMScareers.ca Leaving made Easier HR_Reporter_SmallAd_2014_Layout 1 1 new > pg. 11

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